Behold the power of Blogs.
About two weeks ago, I wrote a rant/post regarding what I thought was a mistake in the redesign of Zagat.com. Mark picked it up for thisisbroken.com and the requisite increase in traffic to this site ensued.
In the last two days there have been two developments on this front. First of all I get a personal email from Nina Zagat herself (cool!), letting me know that she's seen my comments and that they were "looking into" the change I suggested. So, one point to the Zagat organization for actually tracking what their users are saying and responding to it (and not with a faceless, "thanks for your feedback email" either).
Now, I notice an entry on the blog for Catalyst Group Design, who apparently worked on the redesign actaully pointing to both my post and the entry/accompanying comments on thisis broken.com. Two points to CoFactors for acknowleding that any design project is iterative and that they too take note of what's being said about their work.
My point here is not to pat myself on the back for making waves (although if I can get them to actually make the change I suggest, I'm sure all of Westchester County shall cheer and throw a parade in my honor), but to take note that in an earlier, pre-blog world, I would have just stewed about the problem, cursed out Zagat.com and the faceless design consultants they work with, and probably used the product less. That's not what happened here.
And as many have said before me, it's all about the dialogue. I'm really happy to be a part of it.